Art in the Hague

During the first few months that we were in the Netherlands we spent our weekends visiting various different towns and cities. Most of these trips were day trips and so we would try and use the limited time we had to get a feel for the town or city we were visiting. Whilst exploring we would often come across museums and other interesting places that we added to our list of 'must see places'. The idea always being that we would come back in the winter months when being outdoors was less appealing. Well, we are more than half way through winter (or at least we hope we are!) and had still not got round to visiting any of the museums on our list. So this past week while we were deciding what to do with our weekend we had two options we were considering:

1) Visit the town of Leeuwarden or
2) Visit some of the museums on our list.

The museums won! (Leeuwarden, which is 2.5 hours by train, will be a spring time trip)

The Hague has two museums that we have been wanting to visit for some time. Mauritshuis and the Escher Museum.

One of the main squares in the Hague

The Mauritshuis is a 17th century palace in the heart of the Hague and is a great venue for a museum. The museum will however be closed from April 1st 2012 until mid 2014 for renovations and so an added reason for visiting it now. Whilst the main pieces (approximately 100 out of the 800) from the museum will be on show during this time at a temporary location, we don't think it will be quiet the same as seeing the art in the Mauritshuis.

The 17th century palace that houses the Mauritshuis museum

The Mauritshuis museum boasts a number of well known artists, including Rembrandt, Rubens and Vermeer. The big attraction though is Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. No photos are allowed in the museum, but here are some pics from the museum's website.

 Rembrandt - self portrait (apparently he painted over 80 self portraits over the years)

Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl Earring (a Dutch favourite)

Avercamp – Winter scene (this one reminded us of the recent cold weather we had and seeing everybody out on the ice – a typically Dutch scene)

And then it was off to the M.C. Escher Museum (where they do allow photography). Escher’s work has a way of drawing you in and fascinating you with his mesmerizing works. Some of the items that we really enjoyed are shown below.

This picture of three spheres (a glass sphere on the left, a metallic sphere in the middle and a non-reflective sphere on the right) makes interesting use of reflections. 

Bron looking at some of the patterns that Escher came up with.

Collection of pictures

Creatures that come alive and walk around and then return back to the page. But it is the reflections and the patterns that really make this picture amazing.

Day and night (and the Dutch landscape below)

Some more information on these interesting museums:

www.mauritshuis.nl

www.escherinhetpaleis.nl

And while we are promoting art, the website of some very talented friends of ours:

www.mpenja.com

Have a great week and until next time!

A surprise visit to SA =)

Long Haul flight to JHB via Dubai

Two weeks off work

Arranging a lift from the airport

Look on Dad’s face when upon arriving at front door unannounced: priceless!

My Dad turned 70 this past Saturday and I thought a surprise trip home would be a good gift for him. I was a bit early for his birthday but I think he enjoyed it all the same ‘~)

It was really awesome to be in SA after just more than a year of being away. I forgot how much I miss the sunshine, the hot summer days and the impossibly blue sky. It was great enjoying all the things we miss from home, I munched many hot cross buns and drank a lot of sterie stumpie milkshakes! I was stoked when the shops finally brought out marshmallow Easter eggs just before I left! Legend.

But I also forgot how slow African time can be, how security conscious one has to be in SA and especially JHB, how frustrating the banks, rika and fica are, how you can’t go anywhere unless you have a car but also how friendly the people are. It was really hard to say goodbye and leave my family again but it is also nice to be back with Justin. I think it was good to wait a full year before coming home. I don’t really miss Jo’burg that much, only my family who live there. I think it would be much harder to be in Cape Town for a holiday and then leave again. We really loved living there and miss the CT lifestyle very much.

I took it really easy in Jo’Burg and mostly spent time with my family. I was blessed to spend a lot of time with my Dad, my Mom, my brothers and their wives, my 15 month old niece Micaela, my uncle Hilton and a good friend from school Monet. I enjoyed the sunny days and swam and sat in the garden as much as possible. On the Sunday my uncle Hilton and I arranged a surprise birthday lunch for my Dad with family and some friends Dad hasn’t seen in ages. Was really good. I also spent a day at the Misty Hills day spa with Monet which was great fun. My Mom flew up from St Francis Bay and stayed with my brother Darrell for 4 nights. Thanks for coming up Mom! Was really awesome that you came and we could hang out.

And then it was time to go back again =( But first some shopping to take back some things we miss and other things we can’t get in the Netherlands! Thank goodness for the 30 kg luggage limit when flying with Emirates! (The long haul via Dubai is almost worth it.)

Highlights from the holiday:

- The look on Dad’s face when I arrived

- Spending lots of time with my Dad, my brothers Craig and Darrell and their wives Vanessa and Liz, my 15 month old niece Micaela and my uncle Hilton

- My mom flying up to JHB for 4 nights and spending lots of time with her

- A flying half hour visit from Justin’s brother Brenainn who was in town for one night for work

- Seeing Justin’s cousins Mike & Nicola and baby Aidan

- Dinner and a spa day with Monet, a good friend from school

- Surprise birthday lunch for my Dad with some of his friends too

- LOTS of sunshine and 30ºC days

- Summer thunderstorms

- Swimming almost everyday

- Having a braai in the rain with my Dad

- Spending quality time with my cats

- Fish and chips at Ocean Basket with my Dad x2

- Milkshakes at the Boomhuisie with my Dad

- Breakfast at the Boomhuisie with my Mom

- Shopping with my Mom

Things I brought back:

- Beacon marshmallow Easter eggs!!

- Woolies winter sheets

- Woolies duvet covers

- Woolies long sleeve vests

- Kway fleece jackets

- Perforated clingwrap

- Ina Paarman’s chicken and vegetable stock

- Sweet basil

- Viral choice C

- Germolene

- Flu caps

- Savlon

- Cocoa butter lip ice

- Cricket bat tape

Back in the Netherlands the temperature had dropped from a manageable 8ºC to ‑10ºC in the day. I didn’t take a coat or even a hat and gloves with me to save some space. A real problem when it is below zero outside! I was trying to find a nice kway 3in1 jacket all holiday and finally found one airside at the airport, thank goodness! It has warmed up now and is back to about 10ºC in the day, although today we had a snow shower again. But with the ‘warm’ temperatures and the rain all the snow and ice has melted. No more clear freezing days, back to rainy and windy days. I’m not quite sure which is worse! But the days are slowly getting longer; in December it was completely dark by 5pm and now it is still light till about 6:30 pm or so. And it is also lighter earlier in the morning. So that is at least positive.

In other news we have booked tickets to see Bryan Adams and Cirque de Soleil in March. We may still book tickets for Snow Patrol also in March. And yesterday we were online when ticket sales opened and were fortunate enough to get tickets for Madonna in July! Super excited! Slowly catching up for the slow year for concerts we had last year.

Hope you are all well and had a good weekend! Have a good week!

Some pics from my SA holiday:

 

My beautiful 15 month old niece Micaela in her favourite place, the swing! Her other favourite thing is pushing a shopping trolley around, too cute! 

Family birthday lunch at my uncle's house

Micaela's favourite fruit, grapes! She likes to have one in each hand and one in her mouth, lol. 

A tired teething Micaela on Grandpa's lap

The four cousins: Craig, Lloyd, Bronwen and Darrell

Braaing with Dad in the on/off rain! It was a beautiful clear day in the morning when we took the meat out.... 

Wors and mielies off the fire! =)

Boerie roll =)

Granny: Please eat the yummy dinner we made for you!

Micaela: Hm, I'll think about it!

On Granny's lap! 

Elfstedenkoorts!

This week the whole of the Netherlands has been gripped by Elfsteden fever!

The Elfstedentocht or the Eleven City Race is a 200 km race skated on frozen canals connecting 11 cities in the Northern Province of Friesland. 16 000 skaters are expected to take part and in order for the event to take place the ice needs to be at least 15 cm thick over the entire course. For this to occur it needs to be below 0ºC for at least 10 nights and days in a row. The race starts at 5 am with a cut off time of midnight. Skaters have to collect a stamp at each city and also three other secret check-points. It is a very prestigious race under grueling conditions and the winner is guaranteed instant fame in the Netherlands. Farmer Evert van Benthem won the race twice in a row in 1985 and 1986 and set a record time of 6 hours, 47 minutes. Needless to say he is a national hero.

The route of the Elfstedentocht in Friesland. The race starts and ends in Leeuwarden and includes the cities of Sneek, Ijlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Horkum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum.

This week it came pretty close to being held but the ice was too thin in some of the Southern parts of the Friesland. Saturday would have been the best day since it is supposed to warm up again from Sunday. Saturday was forecast to be about -10ºC, Sunday about -1ºC and then going into the positives again from Monday and into the week (apparently 3ºC is warm! lol). So for now, the race is off for this year.

The race hasn’t been held since 1997. Apparently the conditions were perfect in Dec 2012/Jan 2011 but then it started snowing. Snow is bad because you can’t really skate through it and it also insulates the ice and prevents it from becoming thicker. The snow from last week Friday has been sitting on the ice all week and even though it has been really cold the ice still wasn’t thick enough. In the second half of the week the Dutch army began clearing snow off the frozen canals in Friesland in an attempt to help the ice to grow but no such luck. I think they started a bit late… To anyone who complains about how the government spends your tax money at least it is not for using the army to clear snow off the ice for a skating race!!

The Dutch love skating and are completely crazy over this race though. It has been the topic of conversation, the news and newspapers for the whole week. Some people at work have even taken some time off to go skating while the ice is still good. We were in the city doing some admin yesterday and we saw some special Elfsteden cookies and things available with packaging covered in the Friesland flag. And some shops had a special 11% discount for Elfstedenkoorts. I think it is great that the tradition of this race has survived and people are as excited about it as ever.

We would love to witness an Elfstedentocht while we are living in the Netherlands, the atmosphere in Friesland must be amazing. Hopefully one year. Friesland gets seriously crowded though and if you actually want to see any of the skating it is probably best to stay home and watch it on TV, lol.

So it was supposed to start warming up from today but it started snowing as I started writing this! So still pretty cold! But we are expecting to go into positive temperatures again from tomorrow. We can only hope as it is seriously cold and the train service has been reduced while it is freezing.

In other news we watched ‘Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo’ at the movies last night and Justin is coaching under 16 cricket again today (they have an indoor tournament today). I am glad I am wrapped up indoors! And later we have been invited to have dinner with some of Justin’s cricket people.

Hope you have a good week! Coming soon: Bron’s surprise visit to Jo’burg =)

x

...and skating in Rotterdam.

Today started with finding out that last night was the coldest night in the Netherlands in 27 years. -15 degC in my neighbourhood and areas to the north were in the -20's.

All week everyone at work has been talking about going skating (the outdoor type). Apparently it is a typically Dutch thing to do. So at 10 o'clock this morning, with the temperature a fresh -8 degC I got on my bike and headed out to meet some friends for a bit of skating.

So apparently this field was purposefully flooded in order to create an outdoor skate rink

The friends that I went skating with and their 3 month old twins

This section of the Kralingse Bos lake had frozen over and was being used for all sorts of outdoor activites

Who needs a bridge when you can walk on water!

Snow in Rotterdam!

On Monday the first snow of the season arrived... but it was actually just a tease and barely covered the ground. Today it was a little bit more serious. About 6cm serious. OK, it doesn't quite compare with other parts of Europe that have had more than a metre of snow, but it is still really awesome!

The view from our place

The view down our street

Some pics from around our neighbourhood

I think this car is really cool!

Impromptu ice skating

Making snow angels (or Goofing around). No I haven't been to the local coffee shop. Can't vouch for the guy in the photo though.

As for the temperatures this week, the temperature hasn't been in the positive since last weekend. The high today was -4 degC and there is no sign of it getting any warmer.